Connecting wires allows an electrical current to travel from one point on a circuit to another because electricity needs a medium through which it can move. Most of the connecting wires are made up of copper or aluminum. Copper is cheap and good conductivity. Instead of the copper, we can also use silver which has high conductivity but it is too costly to use.
Electrical wiring symbols…
Wires are two types
In labs, we can use many wires
- Male to female wires which are used for Arduino.
- Banana wire used for used to test cable
- Crocodile wires mostly used for CRO
- Wire used by multimeter
Color Code:
The color code identifies the wire which is to be used.
US recommended DC power circuit wiring color codes.
| Function | label | Color |
|---|---|---|
| Protective ground | PG | bare, green, or green-yellow |
| 2-wire ungrounded DC Power System | ||
| Positive | L+ | no recommendation (red) |
| Negative | L- | no recommendation (black) |
| 2-wire grounded DC Power System | ||
| Positive (of a negative grounded) circuit | L+ | red |
| Negative (of a negative grounded) circuit | N | white |
| Positive (of a positive grounded) circuit | N | white |
| Negative (of a positive grounded) circuit | L- | black |
| 3-wire grounded DC Power System | ||
| Positive | L+ | red |
| Mid-wire (center tap) | N | white |
| Negative | L- | black |
EC DC power circuit wiring color codes.
| Function | label | Color |
|---|---|---|
| Protective earth | PE | green-yellow |
| 2-wire unearthed DC Power System | ||
| Positive | L+ | brown |
| Negative | L- | grey |
| 2-wire earthed DC Power System | ||
| Positive (of a negative earthed) circuit | L+ | brown |
| Negative (of a negative earthed) circuit | M | blue |
| Positive (of a positive earthed) circuit | M | blue |
| Negative (of a positive earthed) circuit | L- | grey |
| 3-wire earthed DC Power System | ||
| Positive | L+ | brown |
| Mid-wire | M | blue |
| Negative | L- | grey |
Canada AC power circuit wiring color codes.
| Function | label | Color, common |
|---|---|---|
| Protective ground | PG | green or green-yellow |
| Neutral | N | white |
| Line, single phase | L | black or red (2nd hot) |
| Line, 3-phase | L1 | red |
| Line, 3-phase | L2 | black |
| Line, 3-phase | L3 | blue |
US AC power circuit wiring color codes.
| Function | label | Color, common | Color, alternative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protective ground | PG | bare, green, or green-yellow | green |
| Neutral | N | white | grey |
| Line, single phase | L | black or red (2nd hot) | |
| Line, 3-phase | L1 | black | brown |
| Line, 3-phase | L2 | red | orange |
| Line, 3-phase | L3 | blue | yellow |
UK AC power circuit wiring color codes.
| Function | label | Color, IEC | Old UK color |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protective earth | PE | green-yellow | green-yellow |
| Neutral | N | blue | black |
| Line, single phase | L | brown | red |
| Line, 3-phase | L1 | brown | red |
| Line, 3-phase | L2 | black | yellow |
| Line, 3-phase | L3 | grey | blue |
IEC (most of Europe) AC power circuit wiring color codes.
| Function | label | Color, IEC | Color, old IEC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protective earth | PE | green-yellow | green-yellow |
| Neutral | N | blue | blue |
| Line, single phase | L | brown | brown or black |
| Line, 3-phase | L1 | brown | brown or black |
| Line, 3-phase | L2 | black | brown or black |
| Line, 3-phase | L3 | grey | brown or black |